Management, marketing and communication of food and wine tourism

food and wine now play a leading role in the travel experience, and the presence of themed experiences – from restaurants to visits to places of production – is an element increasingly considered by tourists when they have to choose their holiday destination. The Italian agri-food and food and wine heritage conveys the richness of cultures and traditions that characterizes our country in the collective imagination, including tourism, and for this reason it is the spokesperson for “Made in Italy” in the world.
In Puglia, food and wine and agri-food excellence represent a respectable heritage: 21 Slow Food presidia, 22 GI Food and 39 IG Wine, 276 Traditional Agri-Food Products, and are the expression of an entrepreneurial fabric that aspires to excellence. Health and sustainability become the main drivers of purchasing and consumption behavior, and the authenticity of products and Made in Italy are becoming increasingly relevant in new lifestyles. Faced with this, consumers are placing more and more trust in food and wine operators, expecting them to play a more active role in guiding choices, especially in terms of information and the ability to convey an imagery of food as a cultural and ethical fact, in a dimension that manages to combine the “global” aspects with the “local” ones.
Food and wine, however, is not an aspect in itself, but is closely connected and influenced by the set of cultural, environmental, landscape and territorial resources, and the reception and entertainment services linked to agri-food and food and wine productions must increasingly integrate with the territory and find structured opportunities for combination with these.
The need that is felt, therefore, is to have food and nutrition professionals, profound connoisseurs of the agricultural, wine and culinary practices used to produce food and wine, including research on cultivation techniques, winemaking, cheese production, bread-making and more, so that the offer of territorial services no longer has a mere accessory value and the typical productions become to all intents and purposes an attractor for the development of companies and the territory.

the ITS course for “Management, marketing and communication of food and wine tourism” is aimed at training an expert able to plan, manage, promote and market – also through the mastery of digital tools and 4.0 technologies – experiences focused on a deep knowledge of local food and wine, integrating the restaurant offer with the food supply chains of its territory, enhancing excellence and typicality and encouraging the development of stable methods of procurement, relationship and promotion. The Higher Technician knows the trends of taste, taste culture and food and wine productions and approaches “Food & Wine” using technology with a strongly business-oriented method. He can also be part of the team of managers for the planning, organization and management of catering services, and ensures compliance with quality standards and the most effective promotion of activities that revolve around agri-food and food and wine production.

Course participants will be able to:

• plan and implement experiences with a high degree of digital usability, mapping territorial excellence to meet the demands of the different targets of Italian and international visitors
• plan promotion and marketing actions using digital strategy techniques to support the branding of both companies and territories (Web and Social Media Marketing, SEM, SEO and Content Marketing)
• use the tools provided by digital technologies for the enhancement and use of the heritage of territorial attractors and individual production realities (wineries, wine places, hospitality facilities, etc.)
• tell the food and wine heritage, with reference to the territorial area – also understood as terroir and geotaste – in which it carries out its activity, enhancing all the most captivating aspects that can be traced
• design and operate in the organization of regional and/or international events, educational programs and sensory analysis capable of enhancing Apulian and Mediterranean products and lifestyle
• correctly implement the principles and drivers of sustainability in the design of tourist activities and destinations
• support some management aspects typical of catering companies such as the management of the dining room, communication, menu design, procurement management, also through participation in local supply chains, which enhance local specialties
• develop food and wine proposals and menus, designed around typical local excellences and cultivars, both in the presence of the customer and through the web and social world